“Does anyone else have any objections?” Ronin asked, turning his head to scan the crowd. His eyes landed on Elyria, and he asked her, “do you have any objections Elyria?” he caught the movement of Owl five’s rifle swiveling in her direction as he asked the question but ignored it. Elyria noticed it too, however, she just looked at Owl five flatly for a second before shaking her head.
“No, my lord White flame.” She said, voice full of sarcasm. “It’s clear enough to me these people would be better off without that fool… even if that means putting them in your hands.” Annoyed but deciding not to comment, Ronin continued to pan the audience.
“Since there are no objections,” he said shaking his shoulders to limber up his weapons. “Let’s begin.” He advanced on the clan patriarch, who was still staring at the headless corpse of his supporter.
“N..no,” he stuttered out. “You’re not qualified runt. You can’t…” he had to stop speaking to raise his shield to intercept Ronin’s mace swing. It bounced off with a clang, leaving a small dent in the shield. Not waiting for any more words, Ronin rode the momentum of his weapon back and around and drove it down again. another, larger dent appeared on the shield this time.
“Fine.” Spat the bugbear, pulling out his own mace. “Qualified or not, I’m going to squash you, you little runt, before I take your ship and get out of this death trap.” His words elicited gasps from the crowd, many of those who hadn’t shown any preference for the fight now starting to lean towards Ronin’s victory.
Halican swung his mace at Ronin, who intercepted it with his shield angled to deflect the blow. Only, it didn’t work out that way. there was so much force behind the blow that his entire shield arm was sent smashing into his body, and he staggered back several steps.
“What’s wrong, runt?” the bugbear sneered. “Did you really think the best fighter in the clan could be defeated so easily?” steadying himself, Ronin ground his teeth together. He resolved to get a helmet made that didn’t cover his face. he’d taken it off to talk with Harken but now was missing its protection.
This clan patriarch was a lot stronger than Ronin had expected. Bringing his mace down so rapidly that Ronin could hardly follow, let alone block. Thankfully his armor was sturdy, and his body was enhanced. Otherwise, he didn’t think he could have held up to the beating. Yet, after a half dozen blows, Ronin found his groove and started predicting the strikes. The next attack he managed to deflect, despite the strength behind it, and the strike after that he managed to counter with a weak hit of his own.
From then on, the battle slowly turned from a one-sided slaughter to an even fight. from there, it again, very slowly, started to swing in Ronin’s favor. Halican was stronger than he was. There was no doubting that fact. However, the bugbear didn’t have the biomechanical enhancements that Ronin did. neither did he have the swarm of micro machines swimming throughout his body, repairing damaged muscles and feeding extra oxygen to his cells.
Ronin had also trained extensively against his enhanced Kaldarr guards. All of whom were even bigger than the bugbear. So, he was already used to fighting someone with longer reach and stronger swings. He would tire eventually, but armored as he was, and fighting someone with a blunt weapon… it was going to take a long time.
“Damn you, runt.” Screamed the bugbear when Ronin started to get in more crushing blows than he did. “How are you doing this?” he demanded, “I’m the best fighter in the clan. This can’t be happening.” Ronin felt good, listening to the clan patriarch monologuing like that. It reminded him of the bad guys in nearly every book, who would act so superior then cry foul when something went against them. it gave him renewed hope that he wasn’t a bad guy himself… he just had to not think about how he'd had Owl five blow off someone’s head, just for speaking out against him.
Ten minutes passed in this fashion, until it got to the point where Ronin was the only one connecting with his blows. When he realized how tired his foe had become, he doubled down, smashing his mace into the bugbear hard enough to knock him from his feet. once he had him down however, he relented and stepped back. He’d worked most of his frustrations out by this point, and just wanted to be done with this mess.
“I’ve proven my superiority. Do you yield?” he asked, looking down at the hulking warrior, heaving in a lungful of air.
“It doesn’t work that way lad,” Harken said quietly from the side. “A challenge for leadership is to the death. You must finish it.” Ronin turned to look at the old bear, his face was grim and his single eyed gaze as hard as steel.
“Is that really necessary?” Ronin asked, not knowing why he was hesitating now. He hadn’t batted an eye at the other youth’s death, yet somehow now, he didn’t want to kill anymore.
“Look out.” Owl five shouted, and Ronin whirled around as Halican tried driving a dagger into his back. Thankfully, he was no Elyria, or that blade might have done serious damage. He hadn’t managed to find a gap in the armor, so the knife bounced off.
“Fine,” Ronin said. looking at the kneeling bugbear with distaste. “It’s not like you didn’t know what you were getting into.” Dropping his shield, he grabbed his mace with both hands and brought it down on Halican’s head. blood splattered his face when the clan leader’s head caved in, and he wanted to be sick, right there. He managed to hold it in and turned to face the crowd.
“Does anyone else challenge my right to rule?” he asked, already tired of the whole affair. No one spoke up for a long moment. Then, Harken stepped forward and spoke.
“I pledge my service to the new patriarch of the White flame clan.” Ronin had been sure he’d called it the white mane clan before, but it didn’t matter now. Everyone around him was repeating the old timer’s words, banging their weapons into shields or spear butts into the ground. Turning a slow circle, Ronin took them all in. “What have I gotten myself into this time?”
* * *
The reprieve they’d gained by providing the swarm with an alternate food source didn’t last long. Only a few minutes after the duel had ended, the locusts assaulted the gate again. K1 and K2 led the defense now, along with Karr and his soldiers. Hunter’s scout team had moved up the wall and were shooting down into the swarm from above. While Ronin was being led around the city district in a quick tour, with K3 and Owl five. Elyria was somewhere nearby, but he was doing his best to ignore her.
“This is the refugee camp, patriarch.” Harken said, once they’d reached the back of the district. They were well into the mountain now, and the ‘refugee camp’ was essentially a hole in the mountain side that hadn’t been built on yet. Hundreds of humans and elves lay around in groups, a foul smell was coming out of the shallow cave, and it was clear they had been using it as a bathroom as well as a living quarters.
Ronin frowned, looking towards the dozen or so bugbear guards who were keeping watch over the entrance. Then turned to Harken and Unyielding oak, the wood elf leader. the humans present didn’t have a leader since they came from several nearby towns that had once dotted the area outside the mountain city. The wood elves, however, had all come from the same tribe. So, he was confused as to why she’d allowed her people to be treated this way.
“Harken,” he said voice coming out much calmer then he felt. “Didn’t you tell me this city supported five thousand people before the invasion?”
“Yes, patriarch. Sadly, our numbers have dwindled. Between the… locusts, You called them… and our food stores running out. We are down to just over one thousand clan members.”
“Right…” Ronin said, drawing the word out. “And there are just over one thousand refugees. Only five hundred of whom are combat capable… I assume this ‘refugee camp’ is filled with all those who are not… combat capable?”
“…Yes, patriarch… you see, we…” Harken was sharp, Ronin could tell he’d already caught onto his displeasure and was trying to backtrack when he was cut off.
“Even with the refugees, this city is under half capacity. There are empty houses everywhere. why are these people confined to a cave, without access to bathrooms, and guarded like prisoners?” his voice had risen by the end, catching the attention of the nearest refugees. They were leaning closer to listen, curiosity flickering in their hope deprived eyes.
“Patriarch… No, please listen.” Harken said, raising a hand to forestall Ronin’s interruption. “What once was clan White mane is on the bottom level of our fair city. That means our status is the lowest. My son, our last patriarch, accepted the refugees from the surrounding area. He took them in when the other two clans on our level refused. As a result, we have endured while they fell. However, thanks to their presence, we have also exhausted our clan’s food supply much faster.” He waved his hand to take in the cave filled with miserable looking people.
“When our food supply began to run short, we rationed the food to those who either couldn’t or wouldn’t fight. The men and women on the front lines needed the energy to defend us, after all. it was ok at first, but as food got scarcer and scarcer, those who were getting less began grumbling about it. Halican defeated my son and took control of our clan when all those strong enough to stop him had died at the wall. when he took over, he took more of the already limited food supply for himself and his followers.”
Ronin could already see how the story was going to end, and it sickened him. yet, the knot of rage was still writhing around in his chest. He’d been used and abused his entire life; ever since his parents abandoned him to get crystallized. Alex Dawson had bullied and beaten him with his thugs, and fellow cave dwellers had stolen his food while he was outside scavenging. When he’d finally stood up for himself, he’d ended up a murderer. Not only that, but he’d been beaten so badly that if the crystallization guard hadn’t been too lazy to do the right paperwork, he’d be dead right now. the thoughts kept tumbling around in his head, to the point where he missed most of what Harken said.
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“…the riots cost over five hundred lives, and they’ve been confined here ever since.”
“Pathetic” Unyielding oak said, spitting to the side. “They won’t fight the enemy at our benefactor’s door. Yet when they aren’t given free food, they attack us. They’re lucky we feed them at all, we should have tossed them over the wall and rid ourselves of the burden.” Ronin turned his attention to the Wood elven leader. Her skin was a mottled yellow/green, with dark brown hair braided into hundreds of tiny braids, gathered together in a tail that reached her waist, and eyes the color of meadow grass. She would be attractive if it wasn’t for the perpetually angry glare, and her hard name.
Wood elves had a similar naming convention to goblins, in that they named themselves after an attribute or characteristic. All of theirs were nature themed however, and they could change throughout their lifetimes. Harken had introduced her as, Petal dancer, before she’d corrected him. Apparently, she wasn’t bending well to her people’s new situation, and it was reflected in her new name. “What is it with insane elven women?” Ronin thought to himself, as he tried to reign in his own anger. If what they said was true, then these people didn’t deserve his sympathy.
It was a philosophy he’d learned by heart in the caves. If you wanted to eat, you needed to work for it. Anything you ate that you didn’t work for, was food taken from the mouth of someone who had worked for it. The anger bubbled up again at the thought, and he had to consciously push it back down.
“Very well.” He said at last. “One thing I can’t figure out, however. Why aren’t you working together with the other city districts? There are nearly two dozen more cities farther up who aren’t even engaged yet. Why don’t they help you?” he understood clan loyalism, but this was extreme. Who could stay safe in their city while their fellows died below them?
“A failing of our clan structure I suppose.” Harken said grudgingly. “We were pretty safe here before, so, we’d end up fighting each other. As a result, there are no connecting paths between clan cities. They couldn’t help us now even if they wanted too, and they don’t, I’m afraid.”
“Then why the massive walls?” Ronin asked, the question having been burning in the back of his mind since he saw the massive kingdom wall.
“ha-ha, for the dinosaur’s patriarch.” He said with a laugh, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Haven’t you ever seen a rampaging tyrannosaur? They can all but climb right over these walls if they get enough momentum up.” having heard the answer, Ronin supposed it was obvious.
“Alright,” Ronin said in response. “I’ve seen enough, let’s get back to my ship. I’ve got a few things to iron out with my team.” Walking back through the nearly deserted city, Ronin couldn’t help but marvel at its beauty. The stonework was amazingly done, with patterns carved into its surface at random. It looked like every home had a different design, carved based on the whims of the homeowner. It was just a shame that the beauty of this place couldn’t defend it from invasion.
Entering the square, he’d landed his ship in, Ronin looked around. He’d asked Guts to set up a cooking station near the ship, where he and the food corps were busy cooking up a simple yet large meal for the city defenders. While K1 and K2 were holding the gate, Ronin thought he should feed the soldiers and let them get a few hours of sleep. Many of those same soldiers were already passed out on the ground. It looked like they had simply lain down where they were after the duel and fallen asleep from exhaustion.
“Get something to eat, and some sleep.” He told Harken and Unyielding oak once they reached the line. “My people will hold the gate until you’re fully recovered… Guts and his team can help with the injured as well, so get them around after you’ve had a meal.” He added as an afterthought before he walked up the ramp and into the ship.
“… So, what does everyone think?” he asked his team sometime later after he’d filled them all in on what he’d discovered. He looked around at the familiar faces; K3 and Owl five, Samantha and Guts. Even the ever-sour Elyria, whose expression wasn’t as angry right now, was present. Only the team leads were absent, busy supervising the wall.
“I think we should get in the ship and go.” Owl five said without preamble, “leave these fools to their fate. Why should you help them, when their own people just watch as they get slaughtered?” it was a sentiment Ronin had a hard time discounting. He thought these people had a backwards system too.
“I think we should take them back with us.” Samantha said, piping up for the first time in one of these meetings. “There are a lot of strong fighters out there, plus… have you seen the armor, and the engravings on the buildings? These people are naturally born artists. What could they accomplish for you if you had them under your command back home?” she pointedly didn’t look at Owl five while she talked, Owl five on the other hand was glaring daggers at her.
Ronin looked between the two women curiously. He’d noticed a coldness when he’d woken up in the copilot’s seat the other day, but eventually he just shook it off. whatever they had going on between them wasn’t any of his business. Now, Sam’s suggestion, however, had some merit. Owl two was preparing for the invasion of the undercity right now. Ronin had plenty of goblins, but what he didn’t have were many trained fighters. The bugbears were seven foot tall fully armored tanks, while the wood elves were trained and experienced rangers. Some five hundred or more of each, who could fight.
“I agree boss,” Guts said from where he leaned against the wall. “Don’t give me that look,” he said as Owl five glared at him. “Right now, the boss has a few hundred goblins who aren’t worth much more then working in the fields. Yet less than one hundred fighters. We need these people, just as much as they need us.”
“My scout teams are worth just as much as any elven rangers.” Owl five shot back, “we also don’t have to worry about their loyalty... Unlike some elves I could name.” she added, not looking at Elyria.
“Sorry Brie,” the normally taciturn K3 said. “But I’m going to have to go with Sam on this one too.” he ducked his head at her scowl but continued. “I’m not knocking the goblins here; they are by far the most loyal followers lord Ronin has. But let’s be honest, only about one in five are smart enough to swing a shovel the right way. These people are talented and saving them might go a long way to engender loyalty. Besides, they need help. Any good person would save them if they could.” Ronin didn’t know if that last remark was aimed at him or Owl five. In either case, she stopped glaring and looked away. Unwilling to argue the point any further.
“Whatever,” she muttered drawing one of her long knives and fiddling with the edge.
“My people tried to save our woodland kin,” Elyria chimed in. “Months ago, when we first noticed the locust pod falling past our ship in orbit… they refused.” Ronin looked at her while she talked, she’d removed the armor that bore his colors, replaced with wood elf leathers and a wood elf bow. He didn’t know when she’d managed to come up with those, but he couldn’t help a smirk at how quickly she’d gotten out of the borrowed gear.
“What’s your point?” Ronin asked when she didn’t say anything else. He didn’t mind her input if it was productive. Yet even after he asked her to elaborate, she just shook her head and looked away. “Thank you for your input.” He said, deciding to take her speaking civilly to him as a win and move on. “Now, how do we get them back to the valley?” he posed the question to the whole group.
“We can fit a whole group in the ship, if we dump your truck.” Owl five said with some spite. She looked to have gotten over being outvoted, but she couldn’t resist getting another dig in anyway.
“The truck will be valuable to the war effort.” Ronin said with a straight face, “however we can get along ok without that red bike…”
“Maybe we could think outside the box.” Owl five quickly added before Ronin could finish. He chuckled, and she stuck her tongue out at him. eliciting a laugh from everyone else present, even Elyria’s lips twitched slightly at the pair. After everyone had gotten in a little laugh, the rest of the planning session went more smoothly. Within an hour, they had a tentative game plan for how to evacuate the city.
“Even with the modifications, and using both flight one and two, it’s going to take more than a week to evacuate everyone.” Sam said once they had gotten a plan together, “will you be able to hold on that long?” they’d ended up moving into the cramped cargo compartment so they could close the hatch. The noise of battle was intense. Ronin didn’t know how these guys had managed to hold them back using melee weapons and bows.
“We’ll have to.” He said with a shrug. “I wanted some experience fighting the locusts hand to hand anyway… looks like I’ll get my wish at this rate.”
“Such a fool,” Owl five muttered from where she sat atop her new toy. They didn’t know how the vehicles worked yet, but they’d gathered enough information that Owl two should be able to figure it out.
“Oh, lighten up Brie,” Guts shot back. “You know you wanna fight just as much as he does. You’re just worried he might get hurt is all…” the end of his sentence trailed off as he dodged the helmet Owl five chucked at him from a nearby crate. Shaking his head, Ronin got up. He enjoyed the goblins banter most of the time, but he was still in a foul mood.
“I’ll leave the prep work to you guys. K3 and I have an appointment at the gate.” He said before waving and leaving the ship behind.
Walking through the multitude of sleeping forms laying around his ship, Ronin approached the gate. Looking it over as he drew nearer, he was concerned about what he saw. The gate had been made of heavy wood, reinforced with metal banding, but it had been shattered at some point. Now the area was piled high with large stones, boxes filled with ore, more crates that looked like they had sand in them, along with who knew what else. They hadn’t been able to completely plug the gap again, so they’d created a choke point that only let one or two locusts in at a time. K1 and K2 stood shoulder to shoulder in the opening, crushing exoskeletons and kicking them out of the way. Karr and his squad stood around on top of the barricade, shooting down around the two Kaldarr. Every few seconds the choke point would get filled with bodies and they could take a break while the locusts pulled their dead out.
“Next lull in the action swap out with us.” Ronin said as he and K3 arrived at the gate. Ronin and Owl five were the only true cyborgs left, now that Owl three and four had died, with Owl two being an android. After them, however, was K3, who’d been implanted with a slew of Owl three’s body parts. Owl two hadn’t spared him any pain either, and changed out a lot. Thankfully the pod had put him back in shape in a few days. So, with their added abilities, Ronin suspected the two of them could hold the gate alone for at least a day, and he planned to find out real soon.
When the gap became plugged again, K2 swapped places with K3. They didn’t have time for more however because the tide of bodies rushed in again shortly after. The next time the gap was clogged with locust corpses it was Ronin’s turn, and he jumped down as K1 backed up. K3 had his tower shield held over the gap as he situated himself, but pulled it back when Ronin nodded, he was ready. With a clatter of exoskeleton on stone, a pair of locust drones rushed through the gap.
K3 smashed his hammer into the first and ronin caught the second on his shield. He followed up the block with a blow from his mace, but it had been a mistake to block first. There was already a second wave of drones following right behind the first. K3 covered for him that time, dealing with the second wave by himself as Ronin smashed his first opponent down.
“Thanks,” he said a bit embarrassed as he readied himself for the next wave. He needed combat experience, knowing it was the only way for him to improve. He smirked, because thankfully, there was an entire swarm of it, ready to deliver itself right to his door.